The classic Mexican dish, Huevos Rancheros, Is A Fiesta Of Flavors. Fried eggs sitting on top of corn tortillas and served with a rustic tomato chili ranchero sauce can be found all over Mexico. If you travel there on vacation, you will find this dish at a simple cantina as well as at famous beachside resorts. It is a delicious way to start your day.

Huevos Rancheros, A Fiesta Of Flavors

What is especially nice about this classic egg dish is that it doesn’t have to be relegated to just an early morning breakfast although it is quick and easy to prepare. Countless people celebrating Cinco de Mayo with friends love serving this dish as part of a Mexican themed brunch along with pitchers of Margaritas. But we also know that eggs aren’t just for breakfast any more, and I like preparing huevos rancheros for an evening meal.

Ask a hundred cooks or chefs how they prepare this dish and you will probably get a hundred different answers. Actually, you don’t need a recipe for this meal. Let me tell you how simple it is to put together my version of huevos rancheros.

Huevos Rancheros

Serves two, adjust accordingly.

Corn tortillas, I like to brush them with a little oil, place on a baking sheet, and bake in a 350 degree oven for 5 to 10 minutes until crisp. They can be done ahead of time and stored in an airtight container. You can also buy already fried corn tortillas.

Beans, I like to use black beans although pinto beans are more traditional. It will take about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of cooked beans along with some of their cooking liquid. You can either use left over beans that you have prepared the day before or use canned. Either way, I season the beans for this dish with finely chopped onion, garlic, jalapeño or other chili, along with salt, pepper and cumin. I heat them until their liquid is thick. As they cook, I mash most of the beans but leave some for texture.

Ranchero sauce, I make this exactly like I make salsa with chopped tomatoes, onions, chili pepper and cilantro. I combine all the ingredients in a small sauce pan along with a teaspoon or so of oil, a squeeze of lime juice and season with salt, pepper and cumin. I let it cook for a few minutes until it turns into a chunky rustic sauce. If you prefer, you can use store bought salsa.

Eggs, I use freshly laid eggs that I receive from a friend. I melt about a tablespoon or so of butter in a medium hot frying pan and when the butter stops foaming, I add the eggs. I cover and cook until the whites are set. You can also turn them over, if you wish them more well done. If you don’t care for fried eggs, you could also prepare this dish with scrambled eggs.

Cheese, Traditionally this dish is topped with some crumbled Mexican cheese such as queso fresco. A good substitute would be crumbled feta cheese.

Garnish, I like to garnish with chopped cilantro. On the side, I serve sliced avocado dressed with a little lime juice and oil for additional color and flavor.

Spoon some ranchero sauce around the edge of a plate, add a tortilla, spread with beans, top with a fried egg and sprinkle with cheese. Garnish with cilantro.

*If you don’t want to do much cooking, you can prepare this dish with store bought crisp tortillas, canned refried beans, and your favorite jarred salsa.

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Huevos Rancheros truly are a fiesta of flavors and textures. I believe you will enjoy the rich flavor of eggs, well seasoned beans and a spicy sauce on top of the sweet corn flavor and crunch of corn tortillas. It is a quick, easy meal that doesn’t cost much to prepare. This Mexican classic is vegetarian, gluten-free and muy bueno.

I’m coming to your house for breakfast!!!
Oh, this looks like yet another winner. Your husband must feel like the luckiest guy on earth.
What a way to start the day!

How is it going in the garden for you? I hope you’re getting some tomatoes. Even my EARLY varieties are just sitting there shivering. I pulled a lot of things, but still hold out hopes for the potatoes and tomatoes. I also cut a dozen heads of broccoli over the weekend. Hint hint—your favorite
recipe with broccoli???
: )
Have a great week, Karen!

Hi Sue, If you came to my house, I’d be thrilled to make you breakfast. My husband does enjoy my cooking, thank you. This has not been a good gardening year for sure…either grey, rainy and cool or blazing hot. I’ve been away for a couple of days, hopefully when I return to Maine tomorrow, I’ll at least have some ripe cherry tomatoes. I will seriously think about your hint as broccoli is one of my daughter’s favorite vegetables.

Hi Joan, Thank you for stopping by. Maybe everyone is making huevos rancheros because they are quick and easy. Perfect for when you don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I appreciate your nice compliment on the looks of my dish.

How lovely to have freshly laid eggs. It is my goal to one day be able to have my own hens and each morning being able to go out and collect my own eggs. What a beautiful looking breakfast and something I have not had here in Sydney – ever! xx

Hi Charlie, We are so lucky that are friend gives us fresh eggs all the time. They even feed them a special diet so the eggs taste incredible. I think you would enjoy this dish, it is a favorite of mine.

Simply delightful! Your photo made me drool. Living in South Texas this is a staple in our home. I so loved reading your post and sensing the culinary enjoyment you had in writing this. For the love of yum………..I am off to the kitchen to make some!

I order huevos any chance I get and I agree with you cooking the tortilla just a bit first, it makes a big difference. I’m with ya on the black beans too — your whole recipe is perfect for me. Pinning it now! :)

I just returned from some vacation time in the Santa Barbara area of California. There is a small breakfast place in the town of Carpentaria that serves an amazing Juevos Rancheros using blue corn tortillas and fresh California avocados. The name of the place is the “Cajun Kitchen” but, being California lots of Mexican influenced foods are on the menu. I need to use your recipe to try an replicate the flavors at home. Thanks

Hi Ruth, I’m sorry that your tummy is giving you a hard time…hope you feel better soon. Huevos rancheros is a hearty meal and will help you regain your strength. You might want to leave out the jalapeño to be on the safe side. :) Thank you for you sweet compliment and take care.

Congratulations … a perfect fried egg – an art. Agree with your visitor here that say that everything you do … looks so fantastic. I thought the brown ingredient under the egg was some kind of meat, but it’s the beans. Not that big fan of Mexican food – but a good Fajita – always take good points with me. I think it’s because I haven’t eaten that much Mexican food.

Hi Viveka, I’m glad that you like the looks of the fried egg, thank you. I agree with you…we tend to like the food we have grown up with. Texas, where I grew up, is well known for having good Mexican food. :)

Knowing what a good chef you are, I’m sure you make terrific fajitas. I can understand about not having good Mexican food, I have the same problem finding a good restaurant here in New England as well. We just have to cook our own. :)

Lovely dish! We like the whole breakfast-for-dinner concept, so would (and do!) eat these for dinner. What’s so nice about this dish is you can make it a dozen times, and never make it exactly the same way twice. Great tutorial on how to go about making this — thanks so much.

This is one of my husband’s favorite dishes and I forget to make it for him. Thanks for your easy version and the reminder that I need to make this for dinner one night! Also have bookmarked this for your ranchero sauce “recipe” as I had no idea how easy that was to make! :)

Hi Betsy, Isn’t it funny how we have favorite meals that we don’t make often enough. This is such an easy dish to prepare…I’m glad you like the recipe. If you don’t want the ranchero sauce to look rustic, you can blend it into a smooth sauce but I like it to have a little texture.

I’m envioous ’cause you can get fresh eggs… we used to have 24 chickens when we had the farm in Quebec. One year we even had quail and quail eggs! I think about having a few chickens here in Massachusetts but I’m gone too much… darn !

Gorgeous dish .. I love Tex-Mex food and don’t make this nearly enough, though I’m lazy enough that I buy a bag of jalapeno tostadas, warm them up in the oven and then use them instead of corn tortillas. :) Runny yolk is the best.

Hi Karen the dish looks wonderful and sounds delicious. It’s especially nice that you get to use fresh-laid eggs for it. Would you believe I have never eaten Huevos Rancheros! I will have to do something about that.

Oh Karen, do you ever plate anything up to look less than perfect :) ! Methinks mine is just about the last of the Oz comments and we mostly seem to feel alike. I mean all of us know of the dish but it is not exactly on the everyday menu . . . and the main cities may be enjoying the birth of many Mexican restaurants: it is not quite the same in the ‘bush’!! I have had the ‘huevos’ on my visits to the States and possibly made them once or twice myself, probably for a light evening meal – well, yours is a very easy version and shall definitely copy soonest!!!!

Hi Eha, You are right…it appears that all of my friends from the land of Oz have heard of huevos rancheros. They are an easy dish to prepare but if I didn’t make them myself, I would have a hard time finding them here in New England as well. Thank you so very much for your kind words and being such a loyal reader. I also want to thank you for mentioning my blog so often to your friends…it is very much appreciated.

Karen, I never ever do unless I absolutely mean it :) ! If I truly enjoy something it gives me so much pleasure to tell my friends and perchance they will tell their friends . . . [and poor you has more comments to read :D !]

I’m having to hide the computer screen from Bobby. If he sees Huevos Rancheros or hears the words, then I have to make them for him. :) This dish is a regular in our house. I love your version! They have my mouth watering.

This is an old favorite, Karen, and your recipe does it justice. Around the corner from my last home was a true Mom & Pop Mexican restaurant. If Dad wasn’t cook, Mom was and all the kids waited & bussed tables. I cannot tell you how many times they served me huevos rancheros for breakfast. What a treat and your post brought back some nice memories of the Angel family. Thank you.

Hi Lorraine, I grew up in Texas where Mexican food was very popular but I can understand why you wouldn’t have tried them. I hope if you get a chance to try the recipe that you will enjoy them…I think you will. :)

Hola Karen, Huevos rancheros is one festive dish. Your beautiful red salsa, beans and perfectly cooked egg makes this a colourful and fun dish for any time of the day. I think a few margaritas on the side would make this dish the breakfast dish of champions.

I might have left it a bit late to comment, ias t may all have been said before… but, this looks perfect for my family who rarely agree on a single dish they all like – they could each pick the ingredients they like and still make a healthy and tasty meal!

Hi Jerry, I’m sure you had some delicious huevos rancheros during your visit to San Antonio. I do know the feeling…it is hard to get back into a healthy routine after traveling. I also know your trip to Boston and the Cape had to be wonderful.

Thank you Grace, for your nice compliment. This is a wonderful vegetarian meal. If you like Mexican food, you will certainly like this dish. Enjoy! It has been a very nice weekend, I hope yours was enjoyable as well.

Huevos rancheros are one of these dishes which make me dream but I have somehow never tried to prepare… I guess Mexican cuisine is still one big mystery to me! Your version looks so luscious and the explanations are so detailed, I really have no excuse now I guess ;-)

This dish is beautiful! Yum! I can’t believe I am sitting here after eating a full dinner, reading your blog and wanting to eat huevos rancheros! I’ll have to see about adding this to the menu this week. Thanks Karen :-)

That looks so yummy, Karen. Huevos rancheros is one of my favorite breakfasts. Can you believe that I never thought about brushing the tortillas with oil and popping them in the oven? I’ve been frying them on the stove and have avoided making huevos rancheros because of the mess! What a simple solution that was, of course, so simple that I completely didn’t see it. Thanks for this, Karen!

Thank you so much Sophie for letting me know that you tried and enjoyed the huevos rancheros. It is so nice when someone takes the time to let me know they enjoyed one of my recipes. I appreciate your compliment.

Thank you for reminding me this would be relatively simple to put together at home! We live in the land of what I would consider the best Mexican food “north” of the border. :-) I don’t often cook it at home because it’s so plentiful, but I can’t say I’ve had huevos rancheros in years! I almost forgot about it. LOL! I like the way you bake the tortilla, rather than fry it, too. I think this would definitely be a dish that would benefit from home cooking. I’m sure in the restaurants there is a lot of added fat. This sounds like a lighter version. Now I’m hungry, Karen! :-)

Hi Debra, I’m happy to be a bit of inspiration to you with this delicious meal. You are right about my version being a lighter and healthier version of what you order when dining out. California is indeed well know for its good Mexican food…I know I would enjoy visiting some of your restaurants.

Hi Karen. I’ve yet to try this dish, it’s definitely one I’ve heard of before and with the sun on my back, a big plate of these and a corona or Margherita I think I’d be set. Delicious tribute to summertime!

Reblogged this on Justin-Thyme and commented:
Huevos rancheros is a popular breakfast dish consisting of eggs served in the style of the traditional large mid-morning fare on rural Mexican farms.

The basic dish consists of fried eggs served upon lightly fried corn tortillas topped with a tomato-chili sauce. Refried beans, Mexican-style rice, slices of avocado, or guacamole are common accompaniments. Share your version of this classic dish with us!

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A little bit about me

Hi, I'm Karen. Spend a few minutes with me as I travel the back roads of New England and beyond. I'll share with you great food, interesting places and enjoyable pastimes that I find along the way....no matter where in the world I happen to be.